Give Him Back
by Cat09OwlCity
Summary: Say Hive was able to infect people while they were still living, and say he possessed a certain Leo Fitz. What would happen? Prompt used here: "Give her back." Changed 'her' to 'him'. Hope you enjoy! It's extremely mild but rated T as a just in case! Also, my first post to fanfiction, please comment so I can know what you think!
1. Chapter 1

Prompt: "Give her back to me"

Changing 'her' to 'him'

"Give him back to me," she said as slowly and fiercely as she could.

They were in a corridor of the helicarrier. The team was watching from afar, ready to intervene if something went wrong. She was starting to consider that maybe this wasn't the best option. But she had to try. She owed him that much.

Her best friend in the universe stood in front of her, except it wasn't him. He was IT. There was a darkness in those familiar blue eyes that was completely foreign.

"I know he's still in there. Give. Him. Back."

IT continued to stare at her. Finally, IT said, "Jemma."

Hearing her name in his voice was almost too much. It was its own kind of torture. But she had to ignore that – she was still in dangerous territory.

"Please, I'll do anything. Just let him go. Let him be Fitz again. Please."

"I can't do that, Jemma. Leo is very useful to me. I've never been in a mind that was still moving. It works well. His mind is just so full of information. No, I'm afraid I can't leave. There's just too much help he can give me. How about this - he's begging me not to hurt you. For him I'll let you go."

"No! That's not good enough! You don't understand-"

"I understand just fine Jemma. I see everything that Fitz has seen," he said as slowly approached her, backing her into a wall. "I see the moment you two first met at the Academy. I see his growing affection for you. I feel the pain that he felt after his injury, not least of which was caused by thinking you abandoned him because he wasn't the same old Fitz anymore. I see the whirlwind he created while trying to get you back from Maveth, and believe me, he may not tell you about it but it truly was a whirlwind. Do you know how many times he almost died? Yes Jemma, I understand everything. I know that you two care for each other very much. But I need you to understand this in that primitive little brain of yours – the affection between the two of you is trivial, nothing, compared to my plan. My plan is to save this earth and everyone on it. What is one connection in comparison to the connections of 7 billion people?"

They were now face to face and the only thing she longed for was to see the real Fitz again. Just one last time. She scanned his face, looked into his eyes, but all she saw was IT.


	2. Chapter 2

Suddenly there was a barrier between the two of them. IT stared around at his new prison before looking back at her as he was trapped in amber. His final look to her, the one that was frozen on his face as the amber filled the entire container, was one of terror. Could it be? In his final moments of freedom, had IT decided to let Fitz through?

"No," Jemma said as she beat against the fortified container. "No..no…no…no..no!"

"Jemma?!" She could hear Coulson and the rest of the team running towards her but she thought to herself that they'd be better off running away.

"How could you?! I didn't give you the signal! You were supposed to wait! I still could have gotten him!" She was still banging against the container. It wasn't doing much good, but it was the only thing that felt right.

"Jemma…I'm sorry. I don't think…," Coulson started, with that pitying look of his.

"Well you obviously think WRONG!" There was a burning anger inside her that she couldn't contain. She couldn't let Fitz down. He never gave up on her and she couldn't give up on him. "There has to be a way. Hive said Fitz is still alive. We can save him."

Coulson continued to look at her with pity, but said, "We'll do everything we can. You know that. Fitz never lets us down and we'll do our best to return the favor. But, Jemma, you have to be prepared. We know almost nothing about what we're doing right now. This is new territory for everyone. And while I value Agent Fitz very much, our first priority is to keep Hive away from the rest of the world. Not only is that what SHIELD stands for, but Fitz wouldn't want us to do anything different."

Jemma only glared at him, because there was nothing else she could do. She knew he was right, but every cell in her body wanted to throw caution to the wind and say that no expense was too high for Fitz.

"Jemma, if we're going to do this, we'll need your help. Talking to him obviously won't help. Hive's control is too strong. We need the big guns and you're our best brain right now. We need you focused. Can you do that?"

Jemma composed herself. "Yes." She didn't have a choice.

Coulson's face relaxed slightly. "Good. Let's head back to base then." He turned around and left. After some hesitation, the others followed as well. With one last glance over her shoulder at Fitz frozen in amber, she followed Coulson and the team.


	3. Chapter 3

The search for an answer was not going well at all. The team had become more solemn and she realized that none of them would look her in the eye anymore. The problem was, she didn't need their pity. She needed Fitz.

 _I bet you could've figured it out by now_ , she thought to herself.

Whether this was true or not, every day that Jemma searched for answers and still came up short was like a slap in the face. All she wanted to do was help her friend. She had never felt so powerless.

Every once in a while, Daisy would check in and try to help, but as much as she wanted to help, all of Jemma's biology musings were beyond her. Coulson would peep his head into the lab as well, but usually with a task for her that only irritated Jemma further. She didn't have time to waste.

One night, as Jemma was running on fumes trying to figure out a particular theory in her head about the way that Hive was able to occupy a living mind, Daisy walked in with a mug of tea. It wasn't prepared quite the way that Fitz used to do it, but it was appreciated nonetheless.

"Thank you, Daisy," Jemma said with a smile. Something about Daisy's stance told her that she had something to say and Jemma had the feeling that she wasn't going to like it.

After a few uncomfortable moments, Daisy finally said, "Look, Simmons. I just want you to hear me out, OK? I am not telling you to give up on this, I wouldn't dare. Plus, we owe it to Fitz to keep trying. But I think you should consider maybe slowing down and thinking about how to take care of yourself. When was the last time you even ate something? You can't keep going at this like Fitz did!"

That's when Jemma interrupted her, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. It was true that she hadn't been maintaining her health properly, but there was time for that when Fitz was safe. "And why not?" she said, with a not-so-subtle, restrained outrage.

"Because we almost lost him, Jemma! You have no idea how hard it was for the rest of us to just watch him tear himself apart looking for answers everywhere under the sun. You can't do that. He wouldn't want you to."

Jemma couldn't speak anymore. She heard what Daisy was saying, understood the intent, but couldn't bring herself to acknowledge any of it. Sure, she was probably right. She shouldn't keep going on the path she was on. But she also couldn't stop. It simply wasn't an option.

"Thank you, Daisy, but I have work to do," was all Jemma said as she returned to her computer screen.

"Just consider taking a rest, OK? I'm worried about you. We all are. But I know you can do this."

Jemma felt like the lack of sleep was all catching up with her at once. "You really think so?"

Daisy sat down on the table and looked at her straight in the eyes. "Jemma, I'm convinced that your brain can solve any problem. But your heart is what keeps it going. You care so much about Fitz, and the rest of us. That's what separates you from all the crazy things we've faced."

 _That's what separates you….That's what separates you….THAT'S WHAT SEPARATES YOU!_

"Oh my god. Oh my god, Daisy… What if that's it?! What if that's the way to get Fitz back?"

"Um, what?"

"Daisy, Hive said that Fitz was still talking to him, that Fitz was begging him not to hurt me. That means that Fitz could see! That means that Fitz was conscious enough to communicate with Hive!"  
"Yeah, that's how we know that Fitz is still alive in there," Daisy said, still not quite comprehending.

"Daisy, what if Fitz just needs to gain motor control? Hive is in charge of Fitz's body right now because he's supposedly the stronger mind or just somehow asserted dominance, so maybe the solution is for Fitz to takeback control himself?"

"Is that even possible? I mean, Jemma, if Fitz can take back power over his body then why hasn't he done it yet?" Daisy asked, raising a valid question.

Jemma frowned and thought for a moment, her brain racing almost as much as her blood from all the adrenaline she was feeling. "Maybe it's because he needs to think or…or to feel something that Hive isn't compatible with. Something so strong that Hive can bear to stay in Fitz's mind. Fitz just hasn't figured out what it is yet…"

Daisy looked at her expectantly. "So what is it?"

Jemma felt her hopes fall. "I have no idea."


	4. Chapter 4

Almost 24 hour later, Jemma felt like she was going insane. The search for something that would separate Fitz from Hive was not going well at all, no matter how hard Jemma wracked her brain. Though the lack of sleep probably did not help, she could not bring herself to lay in bed. She could not bring herself to take her mind off of Fitz, not when he needed her.

The problem was that Hive was an Inhuman, so despite seeming like a terrifying monster, he was theoretically not that different from the rest of them in terms of scientific classification. Daisy was evidence enough of , the difference between Hive and Fitz had to come from the difference in them as people. There had to be something that was so fundamentally different between them as people, in personality even, that it would simultaneously strengthen Fitz and weaken Hive. _But what?!_

The team was, unfortunately, not much help, though not for lack of trying. They wanted to be there, to help both Jemma and Fitz, but there were other things to be done. While Fitz and Hive were trapped in amber, the rest of the world still had to be taken care of.

"Ugh, why is this so hard?!" Jemma suddenly exclaimed, hitting her desk in fury as she hit another dead end in her line of thought.

"At this point, I'd be more surprised if it were easy," she heard Coulson say behind her.

Jemma found that she couldn't look at him for too long. She felt like she was failing everyone. "What if I can't do this?" she asked in a voice as small as she felt.

"I think that, in all the years I've known you, I haven't once found something that you couldn't do. I mean, for a while there was lying, but by some miracle you even got that down."

Jemma smiled remembering the time when she was a horrible liar, back when her life was so comparably easy. "But I've always had help. I've always had Fitz and even for those 6 months when I didn't, I had Will. What if this is a time when I simply can't do it." She just looked at her hands on the desk, trying not to give over to the despair clinging at her heart.

"That's why you're failing at this. You think that you're alone. Granted, we haven't been able to help too much yet, but you know that we're always here for you. Say the word and anyone here would drop what they were doing for you. And you also still have Fitz. You've been by his side for your entire adult life. You know him as well as he knows himself. When you were on Maveth you said that you used to talk to him, especially before you met Will. So talk to him. What would he do in this situation? What would he say? Think of how he would respond to you. Think of how your ideas would bounce off of him. Think about what makes Fitz. What makes him such a special person to you?"

Jemma thought of all this, experiencing all of her favorite memories with him. She could hear his laugh, see his smile and his bright blue eyes, feel his arms wrapped around her in a hug so wonderful she lost herself every time, no matter what kind of day she was having. She heard him tell a joke, she heard him wish for a monkey. She heard him at his happiest and his most vulnerable. She heard him tell her that everything would be alright, that he would never let anything happen to her.

The happiness of her memories with Fitz was almost overwhelming. She desperately missed the comfort and love that he had always given her, even when she felt she didn't quite deserve it.

Just as her heart was rising with all of the thoughts of Fitz and with all of the reminders of what made him special and irreplaceable, she realized why she would continue to fail at finding something to differentiate Fitz from Hive.

"That's just it though," she said in a slow voice as the puzzle pieces started to fit together to make a horrifying picture. "Fitz is so special because of his capacity for love. I've never met a single person who cares more about others than Fitz. That's just who he is. But though Hive is not nearly capable of such love, he can understand it. Hive understands relationships. He understands connections. Fitz can be bad at making connections sometimes. He's not the greatest at being social. But when he makes a friend, it's basically for life. He'll be there for that friend no matter what. Fitz completely throws himself headlong into every friendship he makes. Hive can't do that, but he can understand it." She paused before saying in almost a whisper, "This won't work." She was going to lose her best friend.

"Ok, maybe you're right. Maybe this isn't the way we should be going about this…But what if you were on to something anyways?"

"What do you mean?"

"We can't find a difference between them in their personality that will be so unfathomable to Hive that he can't tolerate being in Fitz's body. To be honest, it's probably the reason that Fitz hasn't been able to get control himself yet, and the reason why Hive is so comfortable in his body. But what if there's another way we can make Hive so uncomfortable he won't want to stay in Fitz's body anymore?"

"I don't follow."

"Well, maybe we have to kinda kill him a little bit. Just a little bit."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Hello! Thank you for reading this story! I know it took me forever to update this final chapter, but I hope you find it a satisfying end. Thanks again for reading and I hope you've enjoyed it!**

Jemma was only vaguely aware of her surroundings as she walked toward the containment module that held Fitz and Hive.

Daisy was saying in the background, "Ok, out of all the crazy ideas we've ever had this is definitely up there with the worst. And that's saying something. Is _anyone_ sure this will work?"

Jemma and Coulson shared a look, in which Coulson was more than a little apprehensive and Jemma was somewhat glaring at Coulson for coming up with the idea in the first place.

"No," Coulson said, with the uneasy confidence of a leader who knew that an incredible risk was about to be taken. "We're not sure at all. But we have no other ideas and the longer we wait, the more Fitz has to suffer in there. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears. Otherwise, we proceed." Everyone, of course, was quiet and continued to walk in the direction of the containment module.

As they came to a stop in front of the door, Jemma could feel her heart racing but knew that Coulson was right. Fitz needed them to do something. Fitz needed her.

"Alright then," Coulson said. "Let's get Agent Fitz back. Jemma, are you ready?"

Jemma couldn't speak, so she gave a slight nod. She became hyperaware of the syringe in her hand as well as the lump in her pocket. _It will work. It has to._

It was a last-ditch attempt. They all knew it. There would be no trying again because if this didn't work then Fitz would die.

 _Don't think about that. It's going to work. It has to._

Jemma gave her head a little shake and looked straight ahead at the door. "Is everyone ready?"

There was a pause, and then Daisy said, "Just do it."

She hit a button that sucked all of the amber away, and then opened the containment door.

"Jemma. You came back." It was Fitz's face. His voice. His smile. Jemma wanted to cry because it had been far too long since she had seen and heard him, but now was not the time. This wasn't Fitz.

She stepped inside, hearing the others do the same or at least crowd the door, all ready to play their part if the time came. "This is your last chance. Leave him." Jemma said in as steady and threatening of a voice as she could muster.

"Oh, Jemma. I already told you. I can't do that. I will still abide by my earlier promise though. I won't hurt you, even though it wasn't very nice to keep me here. You've wasted a lot of my time. Luckily for you I have learned much about patience."

Jemma stood right in front of him now, and said, "I can't let you hurt anyone else. I can't let you leave here and we can't just let you stay like that. Especially with Fitz's body. This has to end."

Hive stared at her with Fitz's bright blue eyes. "Do hear that Leopold? She's not giving me much of a choice here. I'm sorry, Leo, but she cannot remain in my way. My mission, the goal I've had for centuries, is far too important."

"I'm not moving," Jemma said, furious that Hive would taunt her like that.

"Then I'm sorry, Jemma."

"Me too," She said as she thrust the syringe at Hive's neck and injected all of the contents into his veins.

He faltered, confused at her sudden attack and his sudden feelings of pain and weakness.

"What... What have you done?" Hive in a low, angry voice.

"It's aconite," Jemma said in a choked voice. Seeing Fitz's eyes look at her with so much confusion and hurt was overwhelming. She could feel the adrenaline pumping through her, waiting to see if their plan would work. "It's working its way through your system now. Very soon, you'll be dead and you'll never be able to hurt anyone ever again."

"You would kill me?" he said, and Jemma had to force herself to focus on the idea of Hive, and not her best friend on the ground in front of her.

"Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made for the good of everyone else. Fitz would understand that. If he dies with you still inside of him, you'll die too."

Fitz's face twisted with fury. "Quite sure about that, are you?" he spat at her.

"I was willing to kill Fitz for it." _More like I was willing to bet his life on it._

Hive yelled in frustration. "We'll see about that, Jemma." And suddenly, Fitz's body started to writhe, and his sounds of pain tore at Jemma's heart. Then, she saw an incredibly disgusting sight: grey, slimy ooze trying to escape from Fitz's ear. She watched it slide out and settle on the floor for a moment before crawling and sliding away, far more quickly than she could have ever imagined it to move. She was so intrigued about the creature that she watched it, but realized with a start that this was not her job. She would have to trust the rest of the team to trap Hive, as was planned.

Her job was to save Fitz.

He wasn't moving quite as much anymore, but was still obviously reacting to the poison. She rushed to his side and pulled out the second syringe from her pocket, containing the antidote she had created. She jabbed it into his neck, hoping against all hopes that it wasn't too late.

"Please work, please work, please work," she heard herself saying as she waited for him to show some sign of reacting to the antidote. After a moment, Fitz stopped moving completely. Jemma stared in shock, not breathing and not daring to look for a pulse.

Finally, she touched his shoulder. "Fitz?" She said softly. No response. She gently moved her fingers to his neck. There was nothing. "Oh, Fitz, please. Please. Don't do this to me." She was starting to cry as her fingers remained poised, read for the slightest movement.

There was no movement behind her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she supposed that they must have succeeded in the plan, where Daisy would aim her powers at what remained of Hive and Coulson would use those moments to trap the slime in a canister. Hopefully that's what happened. She knew that now they were all watching her, but she only had eyes for Fitz.

"Please. Fitz, please wake up. Please. I need you here with me." Still nothing. She lay her head down on his chest, her fingers remaining at his neck as though they had not given up hope though every other part of her had. She cried and cried for Fitz: for everything he had been, for everything he could have been, for everything she never said to him.

"I love you." She finally said it, and once it had escaped her mouth she couldn't stop saying it. "I love you. I love you. I love you."

A bump. Her fingers, still on his neck vein, felt _something_. She sat up in shock, unsure if she should dare to hope that it was real. She struggled to keep her hand from trembling. Maybe it was her imagination…

But no! There it was again!

Fitz had a pulse. That was all she needed. Of course there would be trauma, of course he would struggle to recover physically, mentally, and emotionally. But she would be there for him every step of the way. As long as he was alive, they could get through it. While apart, she had survived on a foreign planet in a completely different solar system and he had ripped a hole in the universe to bring her back. If they were together, she was sure they could do anything.

 **The end! Hope you enjoyed. It's my first ever story so please comment and tell me what you liked and didn't like!**


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